Harry Brook’s maiden ODI century guided England to their first win over the series to keep England alive. Australia return to Lords for the first time since the infamous Test during the 2023 Ashes, so there should be plenty of fireworks in this clash. Jack Tobin offers his full betting preview for the 4th ODI below, which gets underway on Friday night!
England vs Australia: 4th ODI Preview & Betting Tips
Lords, Friday 27th September, 9:30pm AEST
England
Squad: Harry Brook, Jofra Archer, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Liam Livingstone, Saqib Mahmood, Matthew Potts, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Jamie Smith, Olly Stone, Reece Topley, John Turner
Harry Brook steered England to victory with a magnificent knock of 110* off 94 balls, combining with Will Jacks (84) in a match winning 156 run stand for the third wicket. England’s batting over the first two games of the series drew munich criticism for its reckless nature, however Brook and Jacks batted intelligently whilst still striking at over a run a ball.
England enjoyed not having to face Adam Zampa, as all Australian bowlers conceded over 5 runs an over as England kept the run rate over a run a ball through the middle overs of the innings.
There’s still plenty of issues with the ball for the Poms, with Australia scoring 7/304, the second time in three games they’ve scored over 300 in this series. Adil Rashid and Matthew Potts are the only English bowlers to concede less than a run a ball this series, with Liam Livingstone (8.71), Jofra Archer (7.50), Brydon Carse (6.88), Jacob Bethell (6.61) and Will Jacks (6.18) all being expensive this series.
Australia
Squad: Mitch Marsh, Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Mahli Beardman (Reserve)
Australia’s 14 game winning streak came to an end in Durham, with their worst bowling performance of the series the catalyst to the defeat. England finished at 4/254 in 37.4 overs before the rain finished the game, with England comfortably in place to chase down the target of 305.
Mitchell Starc (economy rate of 7.88), Cameron Green (7.5) and Sean Abbott (6.91) all struggled to contain the English batsmen, while Australia could only get three overs of spin out of Glenn Maxwell and Matt Short. Adam Zampa’s absence was apparent, with Zampa being one of only two players to feature in all 14 wins before Tuesday’s loss. The leggie took 30 wickets during those 14 games, the most of any player during the streak.
Despite the defeat there were plenty of positives with the bat for Australia, Alex Carey continued his excellent series with a crucial 77* off 65. Steve Smith scored his first ODI half century since February, Aaron Hardie produced his best knock in Australian colours (44 off 26) and Cameron Green continued his solid run of form with 42.
Match Prediction
After finally getting on the board, England will be full of confidence as the series heads to London. England finally proved their capacity to bat in an aggressive manner without being reckless, and if they can do that for the remainder of the series, they are more than capable of winning the series.
With Zampa likely to be available, Australia will have much more flexibility with their bowling attack and be better placed to execute the middle overs vastly better than they did in London. The contributions that they are getting from the middle and lower order batsmen holds them in good stead if either Head or Marsh can come off with a game changing knock like they did in games one and two. Australia have won six of their last seven ODI’s at Lords, and will bounce back with a win.
Australia
$1.67 (1.5 Units)
Prop Bet
Ben Duckett had his first quiet outing in the series at Durham, dismissed for just 8 after scoring 95 and 35 in the opening two games. Across his last eight One Day Internationals, Duckett has scored 384 runs at an average of 54, with three half centuries. Duckett has enjoyed playing at Lords, where he has averaged 71 in Test matches, and will be looking to take that form into white ball cricket at the historic venue.
Ben Duckett England Top Run Scorer
$4.50
